Citation Guide: Government Documents

To review your Schoolhouse Rock lessons, a bill is a proposed law and a statute is bill that has been passed into law.  Make sure you cite pieces of legislation accordingly!  For federal laws, you can ascertain whether a bill has become a law at congress.gov.

You only need to cite bills and statutes in footnote citations; you do not need to include them in your bibliography.  For federal bills and laws, you do not need to specifically note United States anywhere in your footnote.  For state bills and laws, note the state in the footnote and the bibliographic entry.

Bills

Footnote

            #. Bill Title, H./S. Res. #, xxxth Cong. (year).

#. Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act, H.R. Res. 3934, 118^th Cong. (2023).

Shortened footnote

            #. Bill Title.

            #. Uyghur Human Rights Protection Act.

Statutes

Footnote

#. Act Name, Public Law # (year).

#. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Pub. L. No. 101-336 (1990).

OR

#. Act Name, # U.S.C. § # (year).

#. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101 et seq (1990).

Shortened footnote

            #. Act Name.

            #. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Court decisions are published in what are known as Reporters, which are abbreviated in the citation (for example, U.S. = United States Supreme Court Reports and S. Ct. = Supreme Court Reporter).  You do not typically include court decisions into your bibliography.  

Footnote

#. Case Name, volume # reporter initials, ordinal series number (abbreviated court name if not the Supreme Court, year of decision).

#. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973).

Shortened footnote

            #. Case Name.

            #. Roe v. Wade.

Chicago Style defers to Columbia Law Review’s The Bluebook for citing government publications.

Footnote:

#. Name of Government & Issuing Agency, Title of Publication, Author(s) First-name Last-name if noted, Publication/Report Number if noted, Place of Publication: Publisher, Year, page number(s), URL.

#. Office of the Surgeon General, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community, 2023, 8https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf.

Shortened footnote:

            #. Name of Government & Issuing Agency, Shortened Title, page number(s).

#. Office of the Surgeon General, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, 8.

Bibliography:

Name of Government & Issuing Agency. Title of Publication. Author(s) First-name Last-name if noted, Publication/Report Number if noted. Place of Publication: Publisher, Year. URL.

Office of the Surgeon General. Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. 2023. https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf.